Common Misconceptions of Weight loss
7 Diet Myths Busted
Having spent a long time studying different diets and their impact on health as well as working with 100's of clients with my own fat loss formula, one thing that saddens me is the amount of crap information there is out there. The reason why it saddens me is that most of the diets I have come across have a sole aim of making money off peoples insecurities. Not only that but they also miss the point! To me everyone’s main priority should be health and that runs much deeper than skin deep. Vanity is so prevalent in society these days the people will try anything to look good, even if its to the detriment of their health.
Now if a product is sound, tells the truth and truly helps people then I am all for it. Unfortunately this does not hold true with almost all “calorie restrictive” diets. It is like treating the symptoms (fat/weight) and not the cause (why they became fat), You may well lose weight (note I said weight not fat, there is a difference) at the beginning, but then most people rebound and put all their weight back on. The reason for that is the there are “common” foods in our diets these days that are toxic to the body. So on calorie restriction, when you lose weight you become smaller and therefore more toxic. Your body realises this as a real problem and goes into emergency fat production mode to protect its self!
“The solution to pollution is dilution”
Your body literally dilutes the toxins by laying down extra fat cells in which to deposit them to protect itself!
This is why so many people fail and gain weight on these types of diets.
However there is another way, and it is so simple that you probably already know a lot about it. Trouble is, knowing and doing are quite often on opposite ends of the scale.
The purpose of this article though is not to dissect diets, it is about busting a few myths regarding weight loss to help you get onto the right track…
Myth #1- If you go to the gym you can eat what you want
This is the worst one to me, Can I categorically state that you just cannot out train a bad diet. It is much harder to burn calories than it is to put them in your body! drinks in coffee shops can put in up to 700 calories and it is rare that you just have a cuppa, cakes/biscuits usually follow. I watched a youtube video a few years back with 2 fitness pros providing a tongue and cheek way of showing you this. One of them was to consume a whole pizza and the other ran on a treadmill. The guy would run until the pizza was consumed. Once done they checked out calories burned on the treadmill (I know a calorie counter on a treadmill isn't really accurate, but it gives you a ball park figure)
The result, a 1200 calorie pizza was consumed and the calories burned on the treadmill was 300! see how easy it is!
oh and whilst we are at it, don’t start labeling bad food treats to give yourself a pat on the back for training. It is an excuse to eat crap whilst trying to justify it to yourself that its alright. If you want to “treat yourself” for a job well done, go and buy some new clothes or a cd or a blu ray, lasting rewards.
Myth #2 — weight versus fat
People get confused by this. When you have weight loss, it isn’t just fat, it is also fluid and muscle too. To have a healthy lifestyle you must add resistance training into it to preserve muscle tissue and get your body burning into your fat stores. Training this way with a good nutrition program is a sure fire way to let you hang onto your muscle, whilst burning fat.
Myth #3 — Aerobic Madness
Whilst I am not knocking running, there are far better ways to A) get fit and b) lose fat. Just like a car, which will become more efficient with fuel the longer it goes, so it is with running. Over time your body actually becomes efficient at burning fat for energy and so requires less of it. Plus it only burns calories whilst performing the exercise. Anaerobic type resistance training however will help burn into your fuel stores for hours later through a process called EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption) where the body uses energy to return your elevated metabolism to its resting state. This can last up to 36 hours after the exercise is performed.
Myth #4 — BMI is Bollocks
The Body mass index or BMI has been used by doctors for years. However, it is incredibly inaccurate, especially for someone who exercises and looks after themselves. the premise is that it assumes everyone on the planet is equal! crazy right? 2 people can be the same weight, but a completely different body composition. Take a couch potato who is overweight at 250lb, then take a body builder who weighs the same and is the same height, yet the BMI classes them both as clinically obese! When achieving fat loss it is better to ditch the scales and go for measurements and how you look!
Myth #5 — Diets Are Stupid
The biggest problem I have with calorie restrictive diets is that all calories are not created equal, 100 calories of broccoli is not the same as 100 calories of chocolate, but slimming clubs treat it that way. They play on weakness and hook you into thinking that you can eat what you want and lose. Unfortunately the biggest problem is that with this method, you eat food toxic to your body, your liver cannot handle the load and becomes overstressed. It needs to get the toxins out of the blood and so dumps them in your fat cells. Over time, if you continue to abuse your body, your waistline expands and you feel terrible. So short term you may lose weight, however if you lose weight whilst continuing to pour toxins into your body, you are smaller, there is less of you, but the same (or more) amount of toxins. You are MORE toxic!! your body literally rebounds by increasing fat storage to remove the danger and you are back where you have started.
If however, you forgot about a calorie restrictive diet, binned the rubbish foods and ate natural whole foods (organic meats and poultry, eggs, fish, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds) as well as lots of clean water, your toxic load will be lowered, your liver would not be stressed and would be able to perform more normally. the result is weight loss and less toxins, which allows you to keep the weight off.
Myth #6 — Why Crunches don’t work for fat loss!
In a nut shell you cannot spot reduce fat by doing crunches! The first thing people think about when they want to get rid of belly fat is that they have to do crunches or sit ups or something that works the stomach muscles. When you do a stomach exercise you are only working a small amount of your full body. The more muscles you use the more calories you will burn so just using your abs just doesn't cut it. So you may strengthen your muscles there but not getting rid of the fat!
The best thing to do is perform compound, multi joint exercises. creating a bigger metabolic response through utilising more muscles at any one time. Things such as squats and push ups will do more about shifting the fat around your middle. You abs are already there, you just need to uncover them!
Myth #7 — You can eat anything you want
This one is just to spell out the fact that you have to look after yourself from the inside out. I know and have seen fit looking people, that put crap in their bodies. I will let you into a little secret, unless you start with internal health (i.e. what you ingest both physically AND mentally) you are on a long road to ruin. The body is an amazing machine and will try and adapt to every situation, but if you constantly abuse your bodies then at some point you will come a cropper. Diseases and conditions with manifest because of the constant abuse, from acne and eczema to more serious conditions even cancer.
People can go day by eating malnourished foods to the point where they are Overfed, but starving to death. By eating nutrient deficient foods, your body constantly tells you to eat, desperate for food it can use and replenish vital vitamins and minerals. However if you continue to put in processed garbage then it will lead to lead to constant hunger and weight gain. Your body is telling you what it wants, you have to listen, and no it is NOT telling you to go to MacDonalds!!!
I hope this has helped to debunk a few myths and make you think about what your body really wants and need to become healthy.
To your Health
Dean Coulson
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